Tano North: Residents plead with Nana Addo not to retain MCE for preaching ‘Skirt and Blouse’ during election 2020 [Part I]

Residents of the Tano North Municipality in the Ahafo region are pleading with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo not to retain their MCE, Mr. Ernest Kwateng if the government wants to maintain the constituency seat in Parliament.

According to some residents and party activists, Mr. Kwateng, during the 2020 electioneering campaign, did not involve himself because the sitting Member of Parliament, Freda Prempeh was allowed to go unopposed.

They averred that the only time he joined the campaign with his boys, he was exposed campaigning against the MP.

The residents accused him and his boys of preaching ‘Skirt and Blouse’, which nearly caused NPP the seat.

According to them, the winning figure dropped compared to the 2016 general elections.

They accuse him of being ignorant about the party in Municipality and does not know any party member in his own constituency and mostly goes round with National Democratic Congress(NDC) activists rather than his own party members.

Citing an instance, some of the Polling Station executives this portal spoke to from the five political communities namely; Bomaa, Dua Yaw Nkwanta, Tanoso, Terchire/Adrobaa and Yamfo Zones said Mr. Kwateng would prefer to help an NDC Assemblymember than to help his party member.

And when they approach him, he would retort, “There is no partisanship at the assembly”, and especially when it comes to election.”

According to them, there has also been bad blood between him and the MP, Freda Prempeh, and for that reason, he worked against the MP to lose the seat to an NDC candidate, but for the hard work of the MP and her executives.

They, however, noted that his campaign against the MP reduced the total number of votes she got compared to previous elections.

They indicated that the MCE and Constituency Organizer who is also the Presiding Member at the Assembly were seriously against the MP because their favourite contender for the slot was dropped for the sitting MP to go unopposed during the NPP parliamentary primaries.

The party’s decision, they said, did not go down well with the MCE, the Constituency Deputy Secretary and his Organizer and they vowed to let the seat go to the NDC candidate instead but the MP and her team worked hard to secure the seat.

The communities that this portal visited and the people interviewed said almost the same things about Mr. Kwateng not helping the party in the 2020 elections, and are doubtful if he is not changed, the party might lose the seat.

Mr. Kwateng is also accused of giving freebies to an NDC Assemblymember to share to the people during the Assembly election and left out his own party members contesting the same election.

Mr. Kwateng, they said, supported the NDC Assemblymember with electric bulbs and the renewal of NHIS cards to win the Assembly elections.

When contacted on phone for his reaction, Mr. Kwateng debunked the above and added that he fully took part in the election 2020 campaign, and these are false allegations.

According to him, he suffered for the campaign so there was no way he could have stabbed the party in the back going into the elections.

“You can ask the former DCE in Kufour’s era, he is my witness. You can call him to verify how we suffered during the campaign. We were moving together, and campaigned within the areas that the MP couldn’t go,” he stated.

He stated that it is rather the Deputy Secretary and the Organizer who have problems with the Member of Parliament, Freda Prempeh, but did not see them campaign against her.

“I don’t have any issue with the MP. I talk to her anytime we have to. It is the Constituency Deputy Secretary and Organizer who have issues with the MP, but I did not see them campaign ‘skirt and blouse’ against the MP,” he stated.

Still to come:

Demonstration to rock Tano North over MCE and contracts in the Municipality. Is the MCE working in someone’s interest?

Stay tuned

2020 electionAkufo-AddoMCEskirt and blouseTano North